


Bravery

by Missy



Category: Princess Bride (1987)
Genre: Derring Do, Gen, Girl Saves Boys, Peril, Swimming, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-11
Updated: 2012-11-11
Packaged: 2017-11-18 09:53:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/559681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were, in the history of recorded language, only forty fearsome moats ranked worthy of a mention in Master Phebous’ Compendium of Indispensable Moat Tourism.  The largest and most incredibly deep and murky was located in a minor castle belonging to the royal family of Guilder.  </p><p>And one day, Buttercup was forced to swim it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bravery

**Author's Note:**

> Written for cottoncandy_bingo, prompt: Swimming

There were, in the history of recorded language, only forty fearsome moats ranked worthy of a mention in Master Phebous’ Compendium of Indispensable Moat Tourism. The largest and most incredibly deep and murky was located in a minor castle belonging to the royal family of Guilder. Rumors circulated that there were over twelve species of alligator and two very plump eels slithering in the muddy waters just under the portcullis. There were foul-smelling, fierce, terrible currents, the sort that were painfully volatile, which bogged you down in mid-stroke. Many men had died trying to cut through the currents; their violent deaths left a bed of bones on the rocky and sand-covered bottom. 

And one day – out of sheer determination and basic necessity – the Princess Buttercup decided to swim it.

It was not a decision she’d reached lightly, as Westley, Inigo and Fezzik were being held by Prince Humperdinck for ransom in the highest room in the tallest tower. If there were any way she could reach them other than swimming through the vermin and lizard-infested moat, she would have taken it, but she was in desperate straits. So she did hike her skirt toward her ankle and dip her toes in the water quite gingerly.

Humperdinck insisted upon watching her, bored of having Westley tortured and forcing Fezzik to work with the Brute Squad. The three men had raised involuntary terror across the Florin/Guilder boarder, nearly raising the civil war Humperdinc had so yearned for when he’d plotted her murder. Now their fate rested in Buttercup’s hopefully-capable hands. The three men had been tied to stakes fixed upon the battlement and stood watching her from above.

“Stay brave!” Westley ordered her. “Eels are attracted to body heat, so remain calm, whatever you do.”

“I think telling her that will make her fuss,” said Inigo peevishly. 

“As long as she’s not mad at us,” Fezzik offered, watching her progress.

Buttercup’s jaw locked before she threw herself into the water. Her determined paddling kept her afloat, her feet kicking in calm, even strokes. She kicked one of the eels right in its impudent snout, and grabbed a passing marlin to assist her churning arms.

“She’s doing it!” Westley crowed.

“She’s doing it?” Inigo wondered.

“I don’t believe she’s doing it,” moaned Humperdinck. But Buttercup was indeed doing it, and wearing a new, steely glare of determination as she did. At the very last moment, one of those fearsome alligators reared up in her path.

She responded by shoving a fish into his mouth, then using his head as a stepping stone toward the large stone trellis that led to the tower.

“GUARDS! SPEARS!”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Westley said calmly.

“I don’t BELIEVE you are in a position to ARGUE, Roberts!”

Westley lifted his shoulders. “I suppose not. Be sure to aim for her hands.”

“Are you insane?” Fezzik hissed.

“No, my friend,” Inigo grinned. “There is strategy in his words! Humperdinck doesn’t have the courage to fire on Buttercup, and our friend knows it.”

The prince heard all and was visibly outraged. “Of course I have the courage to do this!” Humperdinck insisted. “Archers! AIM! READY!”

But by then a slim hand was pushing and pulling a blonde head over the top of the battlement, a small but sturdy body climbing onto the top of the parapet. That figure – hardened by her time in the woods, foraging for survival beside her beloved and their two friends – stared impassively at the spear and simply pressed her palm against the tip. 

“Who said I was afraid?” Buttercup wondered, her head swiveled eerily in the direction of Humperdinck, and even though she was quite clearly trembling with fright and exertion, her expression and tone made every man standing before her believe her. “I am no coward!” Her robes dripped onto the stone trellis and rained across the floor as she strode across the battlement toward the Prince. Before Humperdinck could react, she had liberated his man at arms of him of his sword. “Let my men go,” she demanded. The soldiers did not listen to Humperdinck’s protest as Westley, Ingo and Fezzik were cut free. “You shall give me dry clothing and my men a meal. Then you shall give me my bride price and let us be.” She glanced from one frightened face to the other, her knuckles white around the sword's base. “Have I not made myself abundantly clear?”

“Yes. Yes you have. Come within,” Humperdinck requested.

Westley’s jaw dropped open, his fingers growing white and wrinkling from the damp of Buttercup’s robes as he guided her step by step into the antechamber. When both Humperdinck and his men disappeared, he turned to praise her. “You were magnificent, my dear. And unusually forthwith.”

“Nonsense. I am always…” she began, but the rest of her words never arrived.

Buttercup had promptly fainted forwards and face-down onto the bed.

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> This work of fanfiction uses characters from The Princess Bride, which is the property of Paramount Pictures/Tri Star. Infringement for monetary gain has not occurred, and this is a work of fanfiction intended for nonprofit use only.


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